and that Beriah might be a progenitor of Joshua, though we have already shown that he was not. There is, then, no just reason for rejecting Joshua's genealogy in Chronicles. He was the eighth in descent from Ephraim, and the ninth from Joseph, and the tenth from Jacob. This examination of the genealogies, therefore, proves the very opposite of what D. C. intended.

He has adduced them to show that the Israelites returned in the fourth generation from the sons of Jacob. But they prove that Moses, Aaron, and others of the same age, went up in the fourth generation; Achan in the fifth from Judah, Nahshon in the sixth; Bezaleel and the daughters of Zelophehad in the eighth; and Joshua in the ninth from Joseph. The objection, therefore, that the posterity of Jacob's sons could not have multiplied into two millions in four generations is untenable. In different families, just as we see at the present day, there was a difference in the number of descents in the 215 years. Indeed, if we had not had the names and genealogies, we could have inferred that there must have been more than four generations. Moses was eighty, Aaron eighty-three, at the time of the exodus. Were there no younger generations? If not, how could the numbering be taken from twenty years old and upwards? D. C.'s zeal must sadly have clouded his understanding when he wrote the words, "the exodus in the fourth generation.'"

BISHOP COLENSO, CHAP. XVII. The Number of Israelites at the Exodus.

The object of this chapter is to prove that it was impossible for the seventy souls who came down into Egypt to have multiplied in four generations into two millions of people, of whom 600,000 were fit for military services. In order to make out his case, he first asserts "that we nowhere read of any very large families among the children of Jacob or their descendants to the time of the Exodus." Secondly, he assumes that after the descent into Egypt the twelve sons of Jacob, without exception, had no more sons than they brought with them: that therefore, in the generation of Kohath, from which he begins his computation, there were only fifty-one males; and that these increased subsequently at the same rate-four and a half sons to each.

Now that the children of Israel had large families is evidently implied in the words, "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." Even in English, this accumulation of words, “were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied, waxed exceeding strong," expresses an extraor

Here again D. C. says 600,000 warriors. But it has been explained above that this is not correct. There were 600,000 liable to be called upon for military service.

dinary increase. The Hebrew for "increased abundantly," " means literally, " they swarmed," like fish. Compare Gen. i. 20, 21. Now how was this possible, if there were no large families? The intention of the author is evidently to imply that the families were unusually large, and the rate of increase extraordinary; and this is referred to, 1 Chron. iv. 27, where we are told of Shimei, a descendant of Simeon, that he "had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brethren had not many children, neither did they multiply like to the children of Judah." Here is an instance of a large family, and also an indication that the family of Judah had multiplied in an extraordinary manner. The words of Exod. i. 7 are quite sufficient to refute the assertion that there were no large families, and also to show that the rate of increase given by D. C. is far below the truth. But now let us examine the assumption that the twelve sons of Judah had no children after they came into Egypt, except Levi, who had one daughter, Jochebed. Is it likely that all increase ceased after leaving Canaan? These men were all in full vigour of manhood, and their wives probably younger. According to D. C., Reuben was about forty-six, Simeon forty-five, Levi fortyfour, Judah forty-two, the remaining brothers

Or, as is more probable, 53, 52, 51, 50.

H

younger. Joseph lived seventy years after the immigration; had he no children besides Ephraim and Manasseh? Then, again, had Dinah, and Serah, the daughter of Asher, no children? They are expressly reckoned amongst the seventy progenitors of Israel. "Seventy souls, thy fathers, came into Egypt," Deut. x. 23. Without Dinah and Serah, the fathers would only be sixtyeight. They must, therefore, have had posterity reckoned amongst the children of Israel, though not named. The natural supposition and the high probability that they had children in Egypt is confirmed by the remark, 1 Chron. ii. 4, that Judah had only five sons, which implies that the fact was something extraordinary, and deserves to be recorded. But if Judah had no sons in Egypt, he probably had daughters. To this, of course, the reply will be, that these supposed children of the Patriarchs are not mentioned, and that we must abide by the number of children whose names are given. This argument from silence is well known to be a very unsafe one. Joab and his brothers are always called the sons of Zeruiahtheir father is never mentioned: did the author mean to imply that they had no father? When it suits his purpose, D. C. knows well how to supply what is not narrated. Thus, in regard to the Exodus, he supplies children, aged, sick, and women in child-birth, of whom not one word is said in the text; and he would justly be dissatis

fied if we were to answer that, as they are not mentioned, there were none such. The high degree of probability that there were such makes it justifiable to suppose that there were. And in like manner, the high degree of probability that Jacob's sons, in the vigour of life and living to a good age, did not cease having children when they came into Egypt, makes it equally justifiable to assume that they had, and that therefore D. C.'s assumption, that in the age of Kohath there were only fifty-one males, is contrary to probability and to the words of the narrative, Exod. i. 7. Besides, it is especially to be observed, that complete genealogies are not given either in the Pentateuch or Chronicles, but only extracts necessary to point out "the house of the fathers," or to establish the pedigree of some particular person. That this is the fact is proved by some remarkable instances. The children of Ithamar the priest are nowhere mentioned in the Pentateuch, and yet we know that some of his descendants were high priests, 1 Chron. xxiv. 3-6. The two sons of Moses are barely mentioned in the Pentateuch-their posterity, and what became of them, are not mentioned at all; and yet they had posterity, whose names and office were known, as we find from 1 Chron. xxiii. 14-17, and xxiv. 20, 21. In like manner, no sons of Amram are mentioned, except Moses and Aaron, and yet in